Chapter 4 - Off to Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbor

A visit to English Harbor involved two buses.  One to St. John's, the largest city, and then on to the Harbor.  

Nelson's Dockyard is a cultural heritage site and marina in English Harbour,Antigua. It is part of Nelson's Dockyard National Park, which also contains Clarence House and Shirley Heights. Named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, who lived in the Dockyard from 1784 through 1787, Nelson's Dockyard is home to some of Antigua's sailing and yachting events such as Antigua Sailing Week and the Antigua Charter Yacht Meeting.

In the early eighteenth century, the British Royal Navy recognized the strategic importance of English Harbour in protecting ships from hurricanes and in its position at the south of the island for monitoring French naval activity. Throughout the eighteenth century, the dockyard grew in importance, as it was the only harbour in the Eastern Caribbean large enough for safe naval ship repairs. From 1784 through 1787, the British Hero of Trafalgar, Horatio Nelson, served as the captain of the H.M.S Boreas, sent to Antigua to enforce British laws in the colonies. When the restoration of the dockyard began in the 1950s, it was renamed Nelson’s Dockyard in honour of the years he spent in Antigua.

The markings on the boards above

Nelson’s affair with Emma Hamilton was the biggest scandal of the age. Their actual liaison lasted only six years, but it transformed their lives, their respective positions in society, and the public's perception of them both.  Their love story makes for very interesting reading.

Iron bed for the sailors

Nelson's bed

Shopping!

                                                           Gaffer chat!                                                             

Lunch at Hemingway's in St. John's

Where the cruise ships dock

These shots of a street near the harbor show a little glimpse of an earlier St. John's

Sir V. C. Bird
Antigua's first Prime Minister
Born into poverty, he led his country to independence

In 1981, after 328 years, the Union Jack was lowered in Antigua/Barbuda.  It is still a constitutional monarchy however, with a British-style parliament